
Illasti^ated 



liantet^n 



VyiLLJAM H. RAU / 

PHILADELPHIA 
•^€90 



A 



DESCRIPTIVE READING 



ON 



St. Augustine 

ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN 
SLIDES 



^ > ^ — <3> — ^ 



WILLIAM H. RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 
1890 



<. 



Coi)y right, i8go, by William h. Ran, 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. Old City Gates. 

2. Old Spanish Cathedral. 

3. The Slave Market. 

4. A Street View. 

5. The Oldest House. 

6. The Harbor from San Marco. 

7. Hotel Ponce de Leon. 

8. Parlor, Hotel Ponce de Leon. 

9. Panorama from Hotel Ponce de Leon. 

10. Hotel Casa Monica. 

11. The Fountains, Hotel Casa Monica. 

12. Hotel Alcazar and Grounds. 



ST. AUGUSTINB. 



The visitor to St. Augustine may enjoy the con- 
sciousness that the spot on which he stands has be- 
hind it a longer stretch of authentic history than any 
other within the Hmits of the United States. It is 
indeed the oldest European settlement in America, 
having been founded by the famous Spanish com- 
mander, Don Pedro Menendez, in 1565 ; forty-two 
years prior to the settlement of Jamestown, and fifty- 
five years before the landing of the Pilgrims on Ply- 
mouth Rock. Its history has been checkered and 
romantic in the highest degree ; it was from the very 
first a place of considerable note, and the theatre of 
interesting events ; and it still possesses a curious 
aspect and flavor of antiquity. Coming to it from 
bustling, active towns, one is conscious of a complete 
and sudden change of time and place — as if the brief 
ride on steamer and railway had produced magic 
results, and landed him in some quaint, old, dead- 
and-alive Spanish town of the Middle Ages. The 
large influx of wealthy settlers from the north has 
greatly altered the character of the city within the 
last few years ; but the smart modern villas still have 
the air of foreign intruders, and the quaint, romantic 
old city retains at once its individuality and its un- 
likeness to anything else in America. 

1. Old City G-ates. — All that remains of the an- 
cient defences of St. Augustine stands at the head of 

(821) 



82 2 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

St. George Street. Here is the famous City Gate, 
once a part of the old Spanish wall that extended 
across the peninsula from shore to shore, and pro- 
tected the city on the north. The gate is in a fair 
state of preservation, and with its lofty ornamented 
towers and loop holed sentry boxe$, is a picturesque 
and imposing structure. The ditch befDre the old 
wall is clearly marked, and even yet partially filled 
at high tide. According to tradition a guard-house 
once stood just within, and a draw^bridge crossed the 
moat. Only a few yards of wall now remain flanking 
the gates, and it is not known how far, in its best 
estate, the wall extended. The most formidable of 
the fortifications defended the land approach, and 
substantial earthworks once reached from river to 
river, the exterior slope of the parapet being covered 
with a dense growth of Spanish bayonet, through 
which it is well-nigh impossible to force a passage. 
Old engravings of the city show it as a completely 
walled town, and w^e may find on some of the ancient 
tombstones in the cemetery Latin inscriptions con- 
taining the w^ord oppidinn, which w^as often used to 
distinguish a walled town from one without such 
defences. The coquina dwellings of the present town 
are largely composed of material plundered from 
still older structures, and there is no way of determ- 
ining how many roods of the ancient city wall were 
taken by builders who cared nothing for Spanish 
relics. 

The present gateway was the principal entrance, 
was strongly guarded, and repeatedly saved the 
town from the sudden onslaught of savage or civil- 
ized foes. 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 823 

2. Old Spauish Cathedral. ^Near the centre of 
the city is the Plaza de la Constitution, comprising 
about, an acre of ground inclosed with a substantial 
fence. This public square was established when the 
town was originally laid out ; it is a pretty stretch of 
green sward and shade trees. Its dimensions are 
very modest, through the narrowness of the adjacent 
streets, lend it by contrast, some apparent extent. In 
the centre of the plaza stands a white coquina mon- 
ument surmounted by a cannon ball, erected in 1812 
to commemorate the adoption by the Spanish Cortez 
of a new constitution, whence the plaza takes its 
official name. 

The plaza and its surroundings form the nucleus of 
the city. Facing it are several noteworthy buildings, 
among them on the north side being the old Spanish 
Cathedral, finished in 1701. Most quaint does it 
appear with its Moorish belfry and chime of bells, 
one of which bears the date of 1682. Most beau- 
tiful is the legend of this bell : 

" Long years ago, so runs the ancient stor^'^ 
Two bells were sent from Spain to that far clime, 

New found, beyond the sea, that to God's glory 
And in his house together they might chime. 

^' And to this day one bell is safely swinging 
Within its sheltering tower, where, clear and free, 

It hallows each day with its mellow ringing, — 
The other bell, the mate, was lost at sea. 

" And when, in gentle chimes the bell is pealing. 
The people listen ; for they say they hear 

An echo from the distant ocean stealing, — 
It is the lost one's answer, faint yet clear." 

Silvery and melodious would be their music if they 
were properly played as in the olden days, but they 



824 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

now send forth the frequent call to prayer by being- 
rattled with a stick. Through one of the openings 
in the tower we can see the rail of the balcony 
on which the ringer stands. Below the upper central 
window the sun-dials till marks the hours as cor- 
rectly as when the old Spanish monks held complete 
sway over the entire city. The Spanish cavalier is 
of the past, so also are the duenna, and the senorita 
whom she so carefully guarded, but in fancy we can 
see them enter the ancient edifice, and cross them- 
selves devoutly as the mass is chanted by the holy 
fathers. 

3. The Slave Market. — At the foot of the plaza 
fronting the bay is the "Old Slave Market," popular- 
ly so-called, though in realty the original structure 
was a provision market, built in 1840, and used as 
such until the city outgrew its accommodations. It 
is entirely different from market-places seen else- 
where ; it is neat, airy and attractive. It consists of 
a roof supported by brick pillars, six on each side, 
with a floor of the same material. It is altogether 
unique in appearance. At present it is a most agree- 
able lounging-place. The plaza affords a pleasant 
retreat from the sand which everywhere else covers 
the place. Here are shade trees, and the firm green 
turf, where one may idle away the hours. In the even- 
ings this structure serves as the pavilion for the mili- 
tary band. The cheery music breaking the stillness 
has a most exhilarating effect. The inhabitants hear 
the enlivening strains and sally forth ; young men 
and maidens, old men and children, and all the 
negroes who can muster. 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 825 

The plaza has always been, and is still, the scene 
of public meetings. Here the men-at-arms gathered 
when the alarm gun was fired in the old days of the 
French, English and American Wars. Here in 1776 
the royalists burned Adams and Hancock in effigy, 
when the news, a fortnight or more old, came from 
distant Philadelphia that the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence had been signed. Here the Florida volun- 
teers fell in on a January morning of 1861 and 
marched to take possession of Fort Marion, and 
thence subsequently marched away to four }'ears of 
fratricidal war and final defeat. And here too, after 
peace had been restored, the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence was read before a mass meeting of approving 
citizens. 

4. A Street View. — The appearance of St Au- 
gustine is as quaint and peculiar as its history is 
bloody and remarkable. Nothing like it is seen else- 
where in this co-untry ; and having been built by a 
people so entirely different in manners and customs 
from our own, it has been surrounded with an interest 
not shared by any other city in the land. The very 
streets are romantic and'characteristic ; being crooked 
and narrow, seldom more than ten to twenty feet in 
width, and without sidewalks. An advantage of the 
narrow streets in this warm climate is that they give 
shade and increase the draught of air through them 
as in a flue. Indeed some of the streets seem almost 
like a flue, rather than an open way, for many of the 
houses have hanging balconies along their second 
story which seem almost to touch each other over the 
narrow thorouc^hfare. The street names, Cuna, St. 



826 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Hypolita, Tolomato, St. George's and the like have 
an ancient and foreign sound, while the family names 
mark the city as anything but American in its origin. 
It is blessed with that dear and useful friend of the 
inhabitants of warm countries, the faithful and pic- 
turesque donkey. 

There is not a step nor a turn in this grand old 
town of other days that is not interesting. The very 
ocean seems to roll in an antique way ; and the trade 
winds that sway through the palms, magnolias, and ole- 
anders seem to be whispering in Spanish or howling 
in the Cautus vernacular spoken four centuries ago. 

5. The Oldest House. — Though St. Augustine is 
still unlike any other city on this continent, yet it 
must be acknowledged that many American ideas 
are being introduced and that the innovations are 
gradually effacing the Spanish peculiarities. But 
there are still monuments of its founders which have 
withstood time, and whose solidity of construction 
have not been affected by the elements. Before us 
stands the oldest house in St. Augustine, which still 
looks as though able to weather the storm of centuries. 
Like most of the old houses and many of the new 
ones, this is built of a unique conglomerate of fine 
shells and sand, known as coquina rock, found in 
large quantities on Anastasia Island in the harbor. It 
is easily cut in blocks to be laid in courses, and is 
frequently covered over with stucco. 

The street wall of the house was originally extended 
in front of the side garden, but the upper portion has 
of late been cut away, and lattice work substituted. 

The street is well paved with shell concrete, and 
in the olden days was kept so carefully swept, that the 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 827 

dark-eyed maidens of old Castile, who lived in this 
ancient dwelling, and led society in the quaint old 
city, could pass and repass without soiling their satin 
slippers. No rumbling wheels were permitted to 
crush the firm road-bed, or to whirl the dust into the 
airy verandas, where in undisturbed repose, sat the 
indolent Spanish dons and dames. 

6, Tlie Harbor from San Marco. — Perhaps the 
most interesting features of old St. Augustine are the 
sea wall and Fort San Marco. The construction of 
the fort occupied a hundred and sixty-four years, 
having been commenced in 1592 and completed in 
1756. The labor of building it was performed almost 
entirely by negro slaves, Indians, and prisoners of 
war, and every stone of it was cemented with the 
sweat of toiling sufferers. While in possession of the 
British it was said to be the most picturesque fort in 
the king's dominions ; and with its esplanade, moats, 
drawbridges, massive arched entrance, dark passages, 
frowning bastions, and mysterious dungeons, it is a 
singularly fascinating spot. Standing on its tower 
we obtain a fine view of the city, and its surroundings. 

The site of St. Augustine is a flat, sandy, narrow 
peninsula, formed by the Matanzas River on the east 
and the St. Sebastian on the south and west. Looking 
to the east, across the Matanzas River, we see 
Anastasia Island, with its light-house, and it growth 
of scrub palmetto. To the left the land drops awav 
to a beach where Sir Francis Drake posted a gun 
one evening in 1586 and as the sun went down, 
pounded away at the grim old fortress on which we 
are standing. 



828 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Boating on the bay is a favorite amusement on 
moonlight nights, and during the day boating excur- 
sions to gather shells on the Anastasia beach, and 
collect sea mosses and lichens, prove pleasant diver- 
sions. The coast is monotonous, but the sea is ever 
beautiful in color, and there are always objects of 
interest for the lover of nature. Off shore the water 
deepens quickly, and mariners, w^ien once they have 
cleared the shoals at the inlet, may confidently run 
down the beach within half a mile of the breakers. 

7. Hotel Ponce <le Leon. — But all the beauty of 
St. Augustine is not usurped by the relics of the 
ancient military city. Within a few years there has 
been erected but a short distance from the old 
Spanish plaza, a group of hotels unequalled in the 
world. The chief of these, the princely Ponce de 
Leon, revives the architecture of three hundred years 
ago, and enriches it with all the luxuries of to-day. 
It is built in the style of the early Spanish renaissance, 
and is the result of conscientious study of the 
principles that have made famous the cathedrals, 
universities, and palaces of classic Spain. The 
material is shell concrete, and the great building is a 
stupendous monolith, and was moulded, not built. 
The general color is a light mother-of-pearl with 
bright salmon terra-cotta ornamentation. The struct- 
ure is five hundred feet long and covers nearly five 
acres. At the corners rise lofty square towers, with 
pointed finial roofs, shaded balconies, and admirable 
decorative devices in iron and terra-cotta. The main 
building with its accessory portico surrounds a court 
150 feet square, with a central fountain and beautiful 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 829 

beds of flowers. On three sides of the court rise the 
arched galleries, quaint windows and red tiled roofs 
of the main building, while across the fourth side 
stretches the roofed portico, a continuation of the 
main lower galleries. 

8, Parlor. Hotel Ponce de Leon. — To describe 
this vast establishment in detail is impracticable. 
Just within the main doorway are the spacious vesti- 
bule and rotunda, opening a fine perspective of 
columns, caryatides and rich decoration, and leading 
by a short flight of steps into the dining hall beyond. 
The pavement of the rotunda and its adjacent corridors 
is a marble mosaic, small fragments set in cement, 
and arranged in tasteful patterns. The wainscot is of 
Numidian marble. The central dome rises in four 
interior galleries, with arcades agreeably varied in 
the successive stories. The whole is supported by 
four piers and eight columns of solid oak, carved in 
caryatid figures of remarkable grace and beauty. 
These are arranged in groups of fours, standing back 
to back, and admirably posed to convey at once an 
idea of strength and lightness. 

The parlors on the first floor surpass in number and 
style everything of the kind seen elsewhere. The 
grand parlor is one hundred and four feet long and 
fifty-three feet wide, but is practically divided into 
five rooms by arches, portieres, and screens. The 
rich carpets and furniture, costly hangings, priceless 
bric-a-brac, beautiful frescoing, and glittering chandel- 
iers, combine to produce an effect that is unsurpassed. 

1). Panorama from Hotel Ponce de Leon. — 

Stepping to the window we look out upon the 



830 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Alameda which gives name to this remarkable group of 
buildings. On our right is the Hotel Cordova, another 
mammoth structure of Moorish architecture. Direct- 
ly opposite us is the Alcazar, an adjunct to the 
Ponce de Leon. The fourth side of the square is 
occupied by the Villa Zorayda, the first specimen of 
monolithic architecture in the city, and also the first 
modern building to be erected after the Moorish order. 
All these buildings are made of a concrete of fine shells, 
Portland cement and sand. While in a semi-liqurd 
condition, the mixture is poured into moulds made 
of boards, where it quickly hardens. By setting up 
the moulds where the walls of the intended building 
are to stand the whole structure can be solidly built 
up by pouring in successive layers of concrete. 
When finished in its natural tint, the wall presents a 
slightly rough surface, cool gray in color, and of a 
substance that has thus far perfectly endured the test 
of exposure. While in the semi-liquid state the 
cement readily takes any desired color, and may thus 
be adapted to nearly all the requirements of decorative 
architecture. 

10. Hotel Casa Monica. — The Hotel Cordova, 
formerly known as the Casa Monica, was the first of 
the Alameda group. Like its neighbors it is mono- 
lithic, but its style of architecture differs from theirs 
in that it is suggestive of the arts of war rather than 
of peace. The motives for the heavy battlemented 
walls and towers are found in the castles of Moorish 
Spain. Ihe northern entrance is an adaption of the 
Puerto del Sol of Toledo, and the balconies are after 
those which originated in Seville, and are known 



ST. AUGUSTINE. ' 831 

as " kneeling balconies." They are said to have been 
designed by Michael Angelo, for the convenience 
of devotees who desired to kneel during the passage 
of religious processions. 

The architecture of these buildings is such that it 
really requires the sight of the American flag to 
persuade the visitor that he is not in a city of sunny 
Spain. And one instinctively expects to see some 
high-born Spanish dame step from the shadow of the 
portals and lofty porticos. Can we sufficiently com- 
mend the taste of the men who in erecting these mam- 
moth modern structures have been guided by the origin 
and traditions of the lovely old city that for so many 
years lay slumbering in the sun ? 

11. Tlie Fountains, Hotel Casa Moni«a.— The 

hotel is built about a hollow square, and this inner 
court is most beautiful. It is ever flowery the year 
round with perfumed orange blossoms, scarlet pome- 
granate, yellow chaporelle, myrtle, and innumerable 
varieties of other blooming plants, gladdening the 
eye with their cool, fragrant beauty. The fountains 
are altogether unique. The silvery central shower 
and the side jets keep up a musical rippling, — a fitting 
accompaniment to the delightful day dreams one is 
wont to indulge in this land of flowers. The trellis 
work arching the water is interlaced with gorgeous 
flowery creepers and vines, and all about are drooping 
mosses and lichens. 

Beautiful as the garden appears in the sunshine, 
how surpassingly lovely must it be in the evening 
when the pale moon sheds her silver rays abroad. 
And it seems to be generally moonlight in St. 



832 ST. AUGUSTINE. 

Augustine ; for the smallest portion of moon gives 
a very strong light on account of the great clearness 
of the atmosphere ; whether cressent or waning moon, 
it lights up the place with astonishing brilliancy. The 
moonlight nights are the glory of St. Augustine, for 
the old Spanish city is then most charming ; all its 
defects are hidden and all its beauty enhanced. So 
bright and cool the atmosphere, so soft and balmy, 
few can resist the enjoyment of a stroll, or the 
dreamy delight of sitting out on the veranda listening 
to the echoes of the band or the tinkling of some 
distant guitar. To the delicious moonlight nights 
many people attribute the unusual number of mar- 
riages here, which seems to keep the population in 
a continual flutter of anticipation and excitement. 

12. Hotel Alcazar and Grounds. — Facing the 
Ponce de Leon, on the opposite side of the Alameda, 
is the Alcazar, an adjunct of the main hotel, and like 
it in the Spanish renaissance style ; and the two, 
a magnificent unit, unite the old and the new, the past 
and the present with wonderful splendor and effect. 
The Alameda, facing the hotel, is a rival to the old plaza, 
and is laid out with asphalt drives and footways, with 
sparkling fountains and parterres of tropical plants. 

The name of this hotel is from the Al-Kasr, House 
of Caesar, but the design is original and wholly unlike 
that of the famous palace at Seville. The building is 
in the form of a hollow square, and surrounds an 
interior court with a garden and fountains. Around 
the court are ranged arcades, shops, offices, and a 
large restaurant. Beyond are magnificent swimming 
baths of water drawn from an artesian well, aerated 



ST. AUGUSTINE. 833 

to free it from the odor of sulphur, and turned at once 
into the bath, where it falls in a sheet of beautifully 
clear greenish water, exactly at the right temperature 
for swimming. Beyond the bath are courts for tennis 
and croquet, where there are held matches and 
tournaments of interest to all lovers of these games. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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014 541 345 ft 




